LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Ethics Commission is investigating whether Lt. Gov. Mark Darr violated state law by classifying hundreds of dollars his campaign spent at restaurants, stores and gas stations after he took office as fundraising expenses, the panel's director said in a letter released over the weekend.

The panel told lawyer and blogger Matt Campbell that it has begun probing Campbell's complaint against the Republican lieutenant governor. Darr dropped his bid for a south Arkansas congressional seat last month after Campbell raised questions about the reports on his Blue Hog Report blog.

"It has been determined that said complaint meets the requirements set forth. ... Accordingly, an investigation is being commenced," Graham Sloan, the commission's director, wrote in the letter dated Friday.

Darr's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The 12-page letter said the panel is investigating whether Darr violated several state laws, including a prohibition on taking campaign funds as personal income and using his office for campaign purposes.

Darr last month filed a complaint with the commission against himself and said he planned to reclassify several fundraising expenses from after he took office in 2011 as repayment of money he had loaned his successful 2010 bid. Darr has yet to file any amended fundraising reports, according to the secretary of state's website.

Darr said his campaign owed him more than $120,000 after his 2010 bid. Darr reported in July that his campaign still owed him more than $18,000 he'd loaned it during his lieutenant governor's bid.

Campbell's complaint questioned multiple fundraising expenses, including $1,500 for four season tickets to University of Arkansas football games. It also cited purchases after he took office in 2011 from Dillard's, Belk and the Apple Store that were classified as supplies for his campaign.

Darr is the latest public official in Arkansas to face scrutiny for ethics issues. Democratic state Sen. Paul Bookout resigned last month after the state Ethics Commission said he spent thousands of campaign dollars on clothing, home theater equipment and other personal items. The panel reprimanded Bookout and fined him $8,000. A special prosecutor has been appointed to see whether Bookout should face any charges, and a special election will be held in January to fill his seat.

Darr was elected lieutenant governor in 2010, when Republicans won three of the state's seven constitutional offices. He pushed for the creation of an "online checkbook" where Arkansas residents could look up information about state spending.